Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Is that not the reality? Forget about what the ECB is going to do in the future. That is going to make things worse. From Mr. Kelly's point of view, I am asking him whether any consideration has been given to trying to absorb some of the increases the ECB is looking at implementing or actually addressing the bank's fixed rates, which are quite high - extremely high in the context of Europe - and recognising that the bank is benefiting from these loans and from customers putting their deposits in. The bank is consolidating its footprint.

This is every Christmas rolled into one for the banking sector. We have two banks withdrawing, as bad as that is. This is good news for AIB and Bank of Ireland and, to a lesser degree, Permanent TSB. They are now monopoly players. They are now dominant in the banking sector and it is bad for consumers. That is a good example of how it is bad for consumers because more competition would mean those individuals would have cheaper mortgages than they will have now when they transfer to Bank of Ireland.